St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-27

o. 1 r zEeZNC
ADALAsKA ST FFoRD.
q thee we sing. Tne subject of this
.-etch, now one of the prCmi ent business
men OF Minneapolis, was born at Decatur.
H. He gave evidence from infancy of the
possession of great intellectual powers and
financial acumen. having a forehead of al
most abnormal atitudinal development that
early attracted attention. His faculty. of
having others do the work for him while he
reaped the reward Of their eXertions, even at
the tender age of seven, was quite
marked, for the now grown-up men
OF the neighborhood that surrounded
the old Stafrard mansion ut Decatur,
tell OF the time when they were bows and
used to be whipped for going over to 'Lasker
Staford's and doing his chores for him while
he sat on fence and gave them directions,
only rewarding them with marbles and fish
hooks that he had obtained from them by
swapping" Mr.. Statford's entree into CON-
mercial life was at the age of thirteen years,
when he accepted the position of delivery
clerk in village grocery. The way he got
his job, rivals in uniqueness the story of
George Washington and his little Ratchet
He was something OF a converSationast
and deep thinker, and used to hang around
the sugar barrel while he listened to the
reading of the one Chicago daily that
was taken in the neighborhood and the
political discussions of the local wiseacres.
In order that his prolonged visits might be
made endul he endeavored to make him
self useful, ana succeeded to degree that
caused the frequent remark that q" 'Lasker
Stafford was Il mighty handy boy" One day
the proprietor of the store called out,
- Lasker, get pail of water. will yep 1t
happened that Lasker had only few min
utes previous performed this official duty,
but he never said Il word, and emptying the
pail, started off in the direction OF the spring
that was located in the meadow back of the
store. While he was gone one s. of
the Socrate. group clustered about
the store remarked that 'Lasker had filled
the pail just before. When Lasker returned
with the pail of hydrogen broxde and quietly
placed it in its accustomed corner back of
the scales, the consc:ence-stricken proprietor
said, why, Lasker, you'd jest got pail of
water,' II know" returned the youthful
Stafford, with the fidelity to trust imposed
fairly glowing in his face, 'but you ordered
me to get pail of wafer, an i done it,"
This simple, ehid-like obedience to orders so
impressed she proprietor that before evening
he hired 'L9sSSker to, sleep in the store and
open up mornings. Lasker grew in the
graces of his employer. and soon
was. -full-fedged clerk with a pen
ell behind his ear. 1t was at
this period of his existence that he developed
q prediction to long-legged, tight-ftting
boots, with the heel located in the center of
clothes. completed the makeup with which
ne paralyzed village bellies. The proprietor
of the store was also station agent, and in due
time the aiolescenu Stafford was put in charge
of the depot, where he kept tab on passing
freight trains and checked baggage. Stafford
pere about this time started q grocery at Il
populous suburb of Decatur, known us Four
Corners. The Corners consisted of two cross
roads. eight houses. Il watering trough and
the grocery store. Lasker was sent for and
took charge of the store. He used
to drive span of medita-
tive Jenny mules, named respectively
''Charlotte'' and Louise to Decatur for
goods to replensh the stock of tae grocery,
which, by the way, included everything, from
a tooth brush to a Goldfish, likely to be need ed
by the natives. 'Lasker tired of this hum
drum life, and longed for the wild West. He
thought that the Corners would not grow to
become a metropolis, and was right in his
conjecture, for visit to the Corners paid by
Mr.. Stafford last summer revealed that it
possessed one house less than in 1871, the
year when he left and came to Minneapolis,
wearing his high-hee!ed boots, red necktie
and a plug hat.
His arrival in Minneapolis wrought one i'm
portant change IN his career. He dropped
the name of Adalaska, that had been vulgar
lied into 'Lasker, and adopted Lac Stafford as
his cognomen, by which the world has since
known him. His history in Minneapolis has
been uneventful and is marked only by q
gradual approach to the present social and
financial eminence he has attained. He in-
vented the Stafford elevator bucket and
named it the ''Mastodon'' after
Haverlys Ministries, which he happened
TO see one night. For years as the senior
member Of the firm of L. Stafford & Co.. he
manufactured, or rather caused to be manu-
featured, this standard milking appliance.
The real estate boom in 1883 offered many ad-
VantageS to thoughtful citizens, and he
grasped with few of them, thus laying the
foundation for the financial backing to that
well known loan and investment association
known as the Manhattan, Of which he is
president, vice president, secretary and
treasurer, in conjunction with Theed
Curtiss. In appearance Mr.. Stafford is
fascinating. The high-heeled boots of early
days have been displaced by patent leather.
Tne red necktie has been succeeded by laven-
der. and a Sl00 sealskin overcoat now
hangs gracefully from the shoulders which
once carried boxes of starch and sugar
hams. He is as of wore gifted couversa-
ltonalist and raconreur, but most of his
stories, it is noticeable, have the foundations
for the imaginative superstructures which
ne builds laid in Decatur. Mr.. Statford's gal
Eantry and belief in the elevation of the negro
are well known. His adoption of W.. B.
Wheeler, an orphan boy, TO whose education
he has resolved TO devote his lifetime. shows
the characteristic generosity of the man. He
Is treasurer of the Minneapolis Lodge of ElkS
ana deputy SldIe OTpdillZer Oh Tue LalSD cluD.
Doubtless the United States senate will be his
destiny if he ever tackles politics.
~
Newspaper accounts have singularly
enough omitted to say to which Y. M G. A.
branch j. B. Colman lent the luster of his
name He and S. H. Baker were probably in
the same lodge.
1t is announced that Bell and Nettleton will
build the remaining half of the Tribune
building. AS the massive pile has already
been advertised for three years as completed,
Elder Blethen will Immediately get out some
new cuts making it cover half a block.
DR.. II. J. Harding tinds himself the political
Issue of the Eighth ward, and still he isn't
proud Stonemen has fastened to assure
him he had nothing to do with the petty per-
secutions of the Eight Ward Law and Order
league.
Cal w. Clark studies over the names of the
delegates from the Fifth ward and then shifts
his seat on the ragged edge.
In his canvass for justice of the peace, Ed
A. Stevens will make up in cuteness what he
may lack ia strength. Tom Leftwich is a
great hustler and covers considerable terri
tory daily John Fl. Long is on still hunt.
George Fl. Miller had a string to his resiy
NATION, after ali. and will stay with the board
of education Mr.. Miller may have heard the
o d law about first impulses He will proba-
fhn hno pdh ,,x, nc